I can thoroughly recommend Baby Sensory classes with Amy.  I already knew my baby girl would love the classes after attending with my son 4 years ago and I eagerly awaited for Friday afternoon each week to see the delight on her face as she was swept away in an hour of sensory activities.



When we started the term little Lucy struggled to sit up for longer than a few seconds and by the last class at Christmas she was dashing around and I loved watching her chasing the balloons and bubbles.  Little Lucy clearly loves singing (sorry honey, Mum’s voice not so good) and she would sit and stare at Amy whenever she sang and signed the words.

The structure of the class is very simple, each week there is a different theme with a few sensory activities followed by a short play time and then back to the mat for more activities.  Amy Moody is fantastic at delighting and engaging the babies and during our term Lucy was encouraged to smell different dried vegetables (although she kept trying to eat them), touch and feel various items in a box, watch flashing lights dancing around and there was even a puppet nativity play which she sat right in front of the whole way through.





Our favourite activity was always the one’s where we’d be given some bells or an instrument to play while Amy would put down a big bright colourful sheets to bounce balloons on or she’d hide an exciting surprise for the babies to discover underneath while bubbles floated around.

Play time was just as important as the activities for us.  It gave Lucy the chance to jump straight in the ball pit (she now has one at home thanks to Father Christmas) and it gave me the chance to chat to some of the Mums which is always nice when you haven’t had a conversation all day.



Our most favourite class had to be the Christmas special.  Little Lucy and all of the other babies got dressed up and we enjoyed a magical singing sleigh ride and lots of bouncing snowman balloons!

Good to know………

Amy currently runs classes at St Mary’s Longfleet Church in Poole and the Community Learning and Resource Centre in Wimborne.

Sometimes taster sessions are available so it’s worth enquiring if you would like to attend and see for yourself how much fun the babies have before committing to a term.

Classes are for babies from birth to 6 months and 7 to 13 months.

The classes are very relaxed if you need to feed or change your baby at any time.

If you would like to read more about Baby Sensory please visit the Website or you can find Amy on Facebook.

Please note – any details given re classes are correct at the time of writing.

I’ve made quite a few cheesecakes over the years but I have to wait for a big family occasion because I can’t have a huge cheesecake sitting in the fridge in case I attempt to eat it all!

Everyone has a preference on their perfect cheesecake.  Some like it dense and cheesy and some like it baked but I like mine light and fluffy without gelatine.

Ingredients:

250g Digestive Biscuits
80g Melted Butter
500g Mascarpone Cheese
150g Icing Sugar
250ml Fresh Double Cream
Carnation Caramel Can
4 – 6 Twix Fingers
50g Chocolate for melting

Method:

First you need to grease the bottom and a little of the side of your springform tin so the base doesn’t stick.  I used a deep 9 inch round but obviously you can use smaller and just reduce the ingredients slightly.

Then you need to bash up those biscuits or pop them in a food processor to turn them into fine crumbs.  Melt the butter and add it to the biscuits, mix well and press firmly into the prepared tin and then pop it in the fridge while you’re doing the rest.

Whisk up the double cream but don’t allow it to go really thick (like I’ve done before), just make sure it has a nice bit of air in it and it's increased in volume.

Then you need to beat the cream cheese and add the sieved icing sugar.  Mix until it’s a bit lighter and then gently fold in the cream.

To make it more ‘Twixy’ I bought a can of Carnation caramel and poured that onto the base before gently spreading the cream cheese mix over the top.

Put it in the fridge overnight and leave the decorating until the last minute.  I chopped up about 6 mini twix’s and dotted them around the top and then I melted the chocolate in the microwave in 20 second bursts, put it on a piping bag and made a criss cross pattern on top.

Then for a final touch, (just to annoy my husband really) I sprinkled edible glitter on top and 'et viola' sheer cheesecake heaven!

Now that I’ve messed around with several recipes and tweaked the ingredients to how I like them I’ll use this as a base to try other variations in the future.  I’m thinking options could be Forerro Rocher with a layer of Nutella, or Baileys with curled chocolate on top, Kit Kat, Caramac, Milky Bar, Mars or even an Eton Mess with chunks of meringue and fresh strawberries on top!

What would be your favourite topping?

If you like chocolate and black cherries then how about trying our Black Forest Cheesecake!

Dorsetmums Disclimer – I will not be held responsible if you get distracted by one of the kids or Facebook and burn the butter or over mix the cream.   xxx